NFL Playoff Speculation Thread

The title of this thread is pretty self-explanatory. Who do you think is going to wind up in the playoffs this year? Here are the breakdowns thusfar:


NFC

East
Giants: 6-4
Dallas: 6-4
Philadelphia: 5-5
Washington: 3-7

North
Chicago: 9-1
Green Bay: 4-6
Minnesota: 4-6
Detroit: 2-8

South
New Orleans: 6-4
Carolina: 6-4
Atlanta: 5-5
Tampa Bay: 3-7

West
Seattle: 6-4
San Francisco: 5-5
St. Louis: 4-6
Arizona: 2-8



AFC

East
New England: 7-3
NY Jets: 5-5
Buffalo: 4-6
Miami: 4-6

North
Baltimore: 8-2
Cincinnati: 5-5
Pittsburg: 4-6
Cleveland: 3-7

South
Indianapolis: 9-1
Jacksonville: 6-4
Houston: 3-7
Tennessee: 3-7

West
San Diego: 8-2
Denver: 7-3
Kansas City: 6-4
Oakland: 2-8

----

If the playoffs were right now, NFC would be Giants, Bears, Saints, Seahawks, Cowboys, Panthers. AFC would be Patriots, Ravens, Colts, Chargers, Broncos, Chiefs.

Here's what I find remarkable. Three of the 6 AFC teams going to the playoffs would be from the AFC West. Fully one fourth of the playoff teams in the NFL would be from one division.

Quite frankly, the AFC West is ridiculous. Every other division has an overall record within one game of an even 20 wins/20 losses, except the NFC West which is just a pitiful division with a 17-23 record combined. The AFC West has a 23-17 record combined, and that's with the Raiders in the division, with the worst record in Football (tied with Arizona).

4 divisions have only one team with a winning record. 3 have two teams with winning records.

Then there's the AFC West. Three teams with winning records. A third place team with the same record as three first place teams in other divisions. Something is sorely unfair about this division. Sure, say we all get to play Oakland twice... but we also have to play one another twice. It's unreal. And it pisses me off every year.

-sj loves kevin spacey

 

The Packers are only two games behind a wild card spot!

*prays*

 

Go 49ers!

 

The NFC wild card picture:

Dallas 6-4
Carolina 6-4
Philadelphia 5-5
Atlanta 5-5
San Francisco 5-5
Green Bay 4-6
Minnesota 4-6
St. Louis 4-6



I don't think any of the 4-6 teams have a shot, but I got a feeling Philly or Atlanta might be able to take one of the two spots from either Dallas or Carolina

 

go cardinals!!!111!!!!!11!!!

oh wait.

 

The only thing I know for sure is that the Eagles are done and have no chance. They struggled this year with Donovan, they are toast without him. Reid has lost control of the team and his ability to reach the players. This team is sloppy, play with poor fundamentals (dropped passes, missed blocks and missed tackles) and are undisciplined (stupid penalties). This team is going nowhere fast.

 

Sadly, this is true. [face_crying]

 

crap, I forgot about McNabb... yeah, I take back what I said about them having a shot...

 

That's what happens when your entire team is one person. The Eagles without McNabb. The Colts without Peyton. The Chargers without LT. There are other good players on all these teams, but I don't think any of these teams could survive wihout their star.

What I find amazing about the Chiefs' season this year is that we're 6-4 despite, for one thing being in the toughest division in the NFL, but mostly despite the fact that either now or at some point in the season, we've been without the following people:

Trent Green (pro-bowl QB)
Brian Waters (pro-bowl right guard)
Tony Gonzales (pro-bowl tight end, and one of the best ever)
Tamba Hali (first-round draft pick d-end, stud)
Derrick Johnson (leading team tackler)
Greg Wesley (safety)


Not to mention the fact that pro-bowl left tackle Willy Roaf decided to retire just before pre-season, leaving us with awful left tackle Jordan Black. And after we'd let go of pro-bowl fullback Tony Richardson, which hurt our blocking a lot. Never would have done that if Roaf hadn't left.

Most teams don't even have this many pro-bowlers to lose.

And yet here we are, still 6-4, still in the WC hunt. That's what I call a team.



-sj loves kevin spacey

 

Too bad KC lost that one game to Den.

I'll start with the NFC since that is a bit easier, obviously the Bears will end up with the #1 seed.

Other than NE, they should walk through the rest of their games and already are 7-0 in the NFC with wins over both Sea and NYG. I see them ending 13-3 at the worst, but possibly 15-1 or 14-2.

I think the other division winners will be Dal, Car and Sea (squeaking it out), with the WC being NYG and the winner of the NO-ATL game this week.

If NO wins they'll have a beaten Atl twice and I think should be able to hold on to finish 9-7 or so and get in.

If Atl wins, I think they'll end up sneaking into the playoffs with a 9-7 record since I can't really see Phil getting there (loss of McNabb and brutal schd).

The AFC is going to be one heck of a race, and I think you'll need 10 wins to get in.

I'll start with the Ins: NE, Ind, SD

Now to the North, I'm honestly not sold on the Ravens and think they are waaaaay overrated. They should probably be able to hold onto the North, but if Pit beats them twice and Cincy beats them once, that divison could turn into a three team race for 1 spot. I can see Pit running the table with the only other real tough game coming against Car. I'd be on the look out for a Pit run IF they beat Balt in Balt this week. Otherwise, Pit is unofficially-officailly out and Cincy will be just about out as well since they need Balt to lose some games at some point.

If only stupid Tenn would have beat the Ravens. *shakes fist*

I think Cincy will have trouble getting a WC, since they have a brutal schd remaining with games against Balt, Indy, Den and Pit all coming up. And @Cle this week is no gimmie.

I'm not sold on Jax and with 2 losses to Hou, I think they'll choke down the stretch to finish 9-7 and miss out.

I do think it is possible for both Den and KC to get in but I can see these two with SD all trading wins here and there which could leave Den or KC in some trouble if they finish 10-6.

Finally the Jets. They are okay at 5-5 and have a great schd coming up, but I really can't see them winning all 6, and 5-1 might be pushing it. That game @Mia now looks to the toughest but they do still travel to Min which could be a tough one as well. I think they'll end up going 9-7 and just miss out.

So here are my picks right now. (Biased towards Bears and Steelers)

NFC

1. Bears
2. Dal (already beat Car)
3. Car
4. Sea
WC: NYG, Atl

AFC

1. Indy
2. SD
3. NE
4. Balt
WC: Den, Pit (beats out KC due to head-to-head)

 

That was my biased call.

I was born in PA, but have been in the Chicagoland area for the past 20+ years.

So needless to say every year when I do my preseason picks, it is always a Steelers-Bears SuperBowl.

Edit:

My unbiased pick would be both Den and KC for the WC.

 

Yeah no joke. It's especially frustrating because we tied them, in Denver, despite the fact that it was the first game Damon Huard had played since 2001! And then we didn't even get a shot in overtime because of the damn coin toss (worst. overtime system. ever.) That win would have been looking really good right now.

Denver frustrates me because they're not as good as their record. A lot of the games they've won haven't been because of them, but because the other team did something really stupid and gave it up.

So yeah, basically this game tomorrow could be the biggest game of the season for both Denver and KC. And on Thanksgiving. At night... should be intense I'll let you know how the atmosphere is. I'm going to guess- LOUD.


-sj loves kevin spacey

 

Dont count the Eagles out just yet.

 

Much as I want to keep the faith, the Eagles have but the slimmest of chances of making in as a wild card. Ad that is dependent on three things

1. Garcia returns to Pro Bowl form (or alternately, is pulled in favor of Feeley, who recreates the miraculous 4-1 streak he had back on '02)

2. As close to a 50/50 pass/run ratio, with a lot of slow, methodical drives to eat up clock time and tire opposing D-lines out, making them vulnerable for the big play.

3. The Eagles D gets a fire lit under their butts and starts playing as they're capable of doing.

In short, barring a miracle, the Birds MIGHT have a shot an an even season(3 wins out of 6), but the playoffs are practically impossible(5 wins out of 6).

In the NFC, about the only decent call is Da Bears. The East is a match between the torn up Giants and the surging Cowboys.

Carolina maybe, Falcons seem to be in a tailspin.

AFC: Barring Peyton being put out for the rest of the season buy this or the next game, the Colts are in, and will get the top seed.

Chargers are up next for 2 barring a sudden slump, I agree, Rivers is playing some good football.

The Pats will likely take the 3rd seed, and despite their less than stellar situation, I'll bet the other AFC teams may feel just a bit unnerved having to face them in the depths of winter when it's win or stay home.

Finally the Ravens, because of that good Raven's D and MacNair.

As for who gets to go to the dance, hard to say, but somehow, I can't help but think that Peyton will again be watching from his house rather than running out onto the field.

 

As much as I'd hate to say it, you'd gotta think that one of these times Peyton won't choke and will actually make it to the Super Bowl. But if he does, I hope that he proceeds to choke then However, if he doesn't get it done this year, I genuinely think he might never do it. He might be a genuine head case in the playoffs if he can't get it done yet again.

The AFC wildcard suddenly got mad this week. In five days, the Broncos went from being 7-2 and 1st in the AFC West to being 7-4 and 3rd in the AFC West. Plummer has completely fallen apart and now they might have to switch to a rookie QB at a time in the season where that could be really dangerous. They're in bad shape right now, though. It's make or break time, and they have seriously bad momentum right now.

On the other hand, in five days, the Chiefs went from being 5-4 and 3rd in the AFC West to being 7-4 and 2nd in the AFC West. They finally have their starters all back together, after having been plagued by injuries to pro-bowlers and veterans all year. They've just beaten their two biggest rivals, and their momentum going into crunch time is good. They've got some hard games yet to play (Jacksonville, Baltimore, San Diego... why the hell can't we have a normal schedule?!). But they could make it in.


-sj loves kevin spacey

 

Going to update my "unbiased" picks.

I think Den is going to find themselves on the outside looking in. I don't think they get in with Cutler.

The Jets Schd still looks good, but my final AFC WC pick I guess would be Cincy, although they really do have some tough games left.

AFC:

Indy
Balt
SD
NE

WC: KC, Cincy


I don't know what to say about the NFC, there are just some vary average teams that are going to be fighting it out. I think the Giants might be out with the loss to Ten, they really could have used that one. Tough game against Dal coming up. But I'll still lean toward them squeaking in since they still have a pretty good conference record and do have 3 wins in the East already.
Nice win by NO this week and I think that puts them in over Atl, might even give them the division, but I'll stick with Car for now as well.

There are some teams like Min, St.L and SF that outside of 1-2 games have pretty easy schedules. Both Min and St.L have the Bears and SF can makes its case against NO and Sea.

NFC:

Chi
Dal
Sea
Car

WC: NO, NYG

 

I might be a little biased here, but I think the Colts are going to the playoffs. Whether they'll choke and go home or not is another matter, but there for me there is no question if they'll be going or not.

 

Ok, if the eagles win the rest of their games, statisticly, do they have a shot?

Heres their schedule:

Panthers
Redskins
Giants
Cowboys
Falcons

Edit- btw, Jake Plummer> Jay Cutler

 

If they go 10-6, then by all means, they're in the playoffs, and possibly have the NFC East title. But the odds of that happening are enough that not even a Corellian is gonna take it.

 

Ok, this really pisses me off. At NFL.com, Shannon Sharpe has an article about the playoff picture and here's what he says about the AFC.

Hey, moron, last time I checked the Chiefs had better records than every one of your "wildcard" teams Good job remaining objective and not giving in to old biases

I see the appeal in Jay Cutler, but I really hope the likely happens and the rookie can't hold up. It's an extraordinarily bad time to start your NFL career, but Shanahan has a short leash and he couldn't resist. There's a slim chance that'll work out, but you aren't going to see me crying if it backfires


To call the NFC average is being kind. Power rankings this week consistently say 7 of the top 10 teams are from the AFC. The Bears are the only NFC team to crack the top 5.

-sj loves kevin spacey

 

Yeah, Sharpe is an idiot.

His rankings aren't even right. Balt and SD 1 and 1a with Indy 1b??? Come on.

SD has the same issue as the Bears, Do you really want to trust Rivers in his first ever playoff game against another playoff quality team. At least Rex played in the Playoffs last yr, and he played pretty well. He certainly wasn't getting scorched by Steve Smith.
And at least Balt has a proven vet QB but their Off is still questionable.
Sharpe is such a homer it is pathetic.
Not only did he leave out KC, but where is NE!!!

I'd have:

1. Indy - Questionable D, but 4 tds from Addai, yikes.
2. NE - I just wouldn't want to play them in the playoffs
3. Balt - don't trust their Off to score TD's.
4. Chi - don't trust Rex
5. SD - don't trust Rivers
6. KC - if Green is really healthy, they could be solid.
7. Dal - don't trust Romo
8. Sea - If SA and MH are healthy, could be dangerous.
9. Den - I don't like the move to a rookie QB.
10. Cincy - Needs a Def down the stretch for big games.
11. NO - I certainly like their Off.
12. Car - which team will show up.

Then I've got teams like Jax, NYG, Atl, NYJ, that will be fighting for the last WC spots.